McGruber writes: The Federal Times is reporting that (http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20120513/DEPARTMENTS02/205130305/1001) Northrup Grumman has filed suit against the US Postal Service (USPS), accusing the USPS of violating the terms of the 2007 fixed-price ($875 million) contract to produce 100 massive automatic sorting systems, each capable of handling millions of magazines, catalogs and other pieces of flat mail.

The Postal Service embarked on the project just as mail volume was beginning to nosedive, cutting into anticipated efficiency gains. The sorting machines' performance has been uneven, according to a series of reports by the Postal Service's inspector general.